we will be talking with stephanie cutter, the former companisy campaign manager of president obama's re-election campaign. howard kurtz the host of "cnn's reliable sources" lauren ashburn, republican from texas, congressman jeb hensarling with us, randy weingarten, president of the american federation of teachers. all guests this morning. wednesday, december 5th, and "starting point" begins right now. >>> our "starting point" this morning, president obama putting his foot down. he says no tax hikes for the wealthy, no deal. america hits that fiscal cliff in 27 days and that means tax hikes and deep spending cuts if the democrats and the republicans can't come together in some kind of a deal and with just ten days remaining until congress is scheduled to go home for the holidays, the clock ticking. here's what he told bloomberg news. listen. >> we're going to have to see the rates on the top 2% go up and we're not going to be able it to get a deal without it. >> we start this morning with white house correspondent dan lothian, he's in washington, d.c. okay. so who's got the ball in th